Why

Tuesday, 19 November 2013

Dhyanchand or Sachin Tendulkar - Bharat Ratna Debate

Yesterday, I was part of an interesting conversation on
Whatsapp group chat - a group of four friends at different locations discussed
the merits of Sachin Tendulkar being awarded the highest civilian award 'Bharat
Ratna'.

Though no one disputed the man for being awarded, all of us
did express our surprise of him being awarded on the day of his retirement.
Personally, I am huge fan of his and I would have waited for at least five
years or ten years before bestowing this honour on him.

Now that he has been awarded and thereby the first
sportsperson to be recognised with the top civilian award - another topic came
up. Why isn't Major Dhyanchand recognised for all this hockey achievements?

How many of us remember Major Dhyanchand? A lot of them do
but not as much as Sachin Tendulkar and that's the modern day truth. I try to
make sense to myself on why Dhyanchand's legacy is caught in a maze of illusion
when compared with Tendulkar.

A friend of mine had illustrated about India in which the
legend of Tendulkar took its birth. It was a time in India when people had few
TV sets manufactured by handful of companies. There was no satellite television
and national television had one channel for the whole of India - which then
were customised depending on which region you belonged to. Cricket was edging
field hockey slowly by the day and Tendulkar accelerated that process.

That was the India I was born and by the time I was barely
six, Tendulkar had made his debut and before I was eight years of age, he had
excelled in Pakistan, England, New Zealand and Australia.

Every country loves to have their own set of heroes in any
field. The fundamental difference being the nature of fellow countrymen and
their reactions. Cricket became the preferred sport and Tendulkar became the
hero and much more.

TV sets were on the raise and soon there was cable
television with multiple channels - people of India could witness a Indian
taken on the best of the teams across the world and excel. Everyone could see
Tendulkar bat, or bowl or even field and was well appreciated. There were
famous Indian cricketers from the past but none reached out to the common man
like the way Sachin did.

Ardent sports fan always found ways to keep in touch with
best of sports stories. Which individual or team stories can one think of - purely
from Indian sports context in the 90's? Vishwanathan Anand taking on Gary
Kasparov for the world title; Leander Paes winning the bronze medal at the
Atlanta Olympics comes to my immediate mind. Where was hockey, our national
sport? Lost in the past glory and refusing to accept the present.

There were performances by other athletes here and there -
none matched the consistency of Tendulkar. Mind you, he was still in his 20's
at the turn of millennium and his aura had reached grandly proportions.

The commerce industry
was on the increase in the 90's which resulted in the creation of 'Brand
Tendulkar' which became a story in itself. One cannot fault a individual if he
is getting a raise in his pay because of his performance. His personal life is
set as an example for a lot of families in India.

Then came the darkest hour of cricket - the match fixing
scandal. Bulk of the senior Indian cricketers were exposed and out of few guys who
came out clean - Sachin Tendulkar was hailed as a saint. The year 2000 was very
crucial for Indian cricket and to the world cricket in general with few of the
cricket fans choosing the dark side of cynicism over a new hope.

There was dirt all around when the exposé took place and
Indian cricket had to re-build its image. Cricket in general needed a fresh
start. Sachin Tendulkar along with Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble,
Javagal Srinath, VVS Laxman took up the mantle and took Indian cricket to new
heights. Their performance was one of the reasons cricket became and still is
one of the heavily invested property in India. Unlike other sports federations
in India, development was taken seriously and Indian cricket has never been
healthier at the grassroots level.

When you talk about Sachin Tendulkar, he is beyond the
statistical world. His personality is strong enough to overlook the petty
fights of who's the best cricketer in the world. What does one achieve if he is
the best? Will he escape death? Will he cease to become a human being? I am
curious to know what does one benefit from being the best. Cricketing wise - he
has been a complete player than most of the cricketers in the history of the
game. On a personal front though, he is in a stage of infancy without cricket.

What are his next set of challenges?

To understand his two teens at home; help his wife in
day-to-day matters; start a new career in development of sports; take up
politics; become an entrepreneur or become the recluse he wished to be - the
options are plenty.

The opinions will always be divided no matter what and when
it comes to Tendulkar both sides of the argument attract tremendous attention. As
a cricketer he had to cope with simple expectations multiplied by countless
ocean of people from different backgrounds and cultures; he was expected to
help Indian win matches and score runs every match. Now what are the new set of
expectations?

He had a flawless professional life and personal life thus
far - but he knows with each passing day the responsibilities will only increase.
It will not be as a player and life outside of cricket field.

People would
continue to have expectations more than any athlete in the history of sports. The
22-yards and the cricket field provided the perfect refuge from all the pressures
- it was one place where he felt at ease irrespective of the opposition he
faced.

As he prepares to lead a life of an ex-cricketer - he is now
bestowed with Bharat Ratna and with it comes scrutiny of another level. Such is
a life of this persona that he can never lead a simple life. His own talent, extraordinary
abilities and discipline have made him to lead this uncommon life in a country
of common men.

Give me a worthy guy to succeed and I shall find a cynic who
thinks otherwise. And now the debate of Dhyanchand or Sachin Tendulkar is
becoming a battle of egos.

Who would benefit from Dhyanchand winning the award? What
has been done to Dhyanchand's legacy in the name of National Sports Day in
India? What is happening to Indian hockey?

Yes, Indian hockey has won eight Olympic gold medals since
the time they made their debut in Amsterdam in 1928. Six gold medals on a trot
and the first three involved Dhyanchand - which included the famous victory at the
1936 Berlin Olympics in front of the Nazi regime and Hitler.

What is its
relevance now? The last time India won a hockey gold medal was helped by the
cold war which saw many of the countries boycotting USSR led Moscow Games. That
was in 1980 and my parents didn't even know each other. It is part of history.

I love history but history to me is convoluted. It does not
give me the right answers to my questions - it always leaves me with
unexplained situations and on top of it all it narrates countless myths when it
comes to specific people or events.

We like metaphors because it is soothing, appealing, poetic
and dramatic as compared to simple reports or bland narrations. I, like many
would get lost in these metaphors created by few writers. For Tendulkar there
are plenty of written and visual evidence; on the other hand Major Dhyanchand,
sadly very few saw or has been written about him.

The Union Government of India had instituted Dhyanchand lifetime
achievement award in 2002. The National stadium which hosted the inaugural
Asian Games in 1951 was later renamed as Major Dhyanchand Hockey stadium in New
Delhi. The National Sports Day which falls on August 29th of each
year also happens to be his birthday.

How many of us remember where he is from? The town he hails
from is more popular by a woman patriot by the name of Laxmi Bai. Who can
accurately prove which place he was born? Do people know he was an ex-service
man who served for the Army in pre-independence and for a decade after
independence?

He was short of money towards the end of his life and was
unrecognised by nation and at some of the tournaments he went. He died of liver
cancer in 1979 in AIIMS in a general ward. Is that the way one treats an icon
never mind a potential Bharat Ratna candidate?

Indian hockey and its decline over the years have not helped
to elevate Dhyanchand's legacy. The best way to honour according to me would be
- To make the national sport, a sport for the nation. Make it a governmental
priority through Sports Ministry as BCCI does not need any help from the government
funds. India has a lot of space for team sports outside cricket.

Any institution is governed by politics and this aspect is
magnified when it concerns Government. Governmental awards over the years have
always had political influence in some way or the other. People have different
opinions of the same topic and awards are no different.

Why the reluctance to award Dhyanchand, the top honour of
India all these days? Why blame Sachin Tendulkar if he is being awarded instead
of Dhyanchand. Why should Tendulkar step in and say who deserves the award or
not? How does their value legacy diminish by not honouring this award?

Dhyanchand's autobiography ‘Goal’ starts with the lines
“Needless to say I am a common man.” Looking at the legacy and upbringing
of Tendulkar, he too is a common man. Their achievements in the sports field
are uncommon. Their names are, have and will be exploited and used as means to
spark debates of all kinds.

Will it silence the debate once in for all if both these
sportsmen were awarded jointly? I guess not...